Edmond teams sweep first matches of Harkness Tourney

The 2017 Heather Harkness Memorial Volleyball Tournament kicked off Friday morning in a tournament headlined by some of the best volleyball teams in the state. The two best, at least according to OSSAA rankings, played in the 8:30 a.m. games when Deer Creek went against Tulsa Union and Santa Fe competed against Bishop McGuiness. With Santa Fe dominating on the other side of the court, the top-ranked Antlers started sluggish in the first set. Deer Creek was forced to play catch up for most of their first set against the Pool 1’s third-seeded Tulsa Union. The Antlers fell behind by as many as 7 points in the early set, but battled back behind a big Grayson Schimmels’s rally. The comeback was capped off when junior Maciee Morgan sent an emphatic kill straight into the court to push Deer Creek’s late-lead to 22-20. After Deer Creek’s early-scare, both the Antlers and Wolves, the #1 seeds in both pools, continued to show their dominance that has become the norm this season. Both Santa Fe and Deer Creek took their opening matches in straight sets. The opening contests hinted at what everyone in Edmond wants to see: Number 1 versus Number 2. The two teams sit atop the Class-6A rankings for Girls Volleyball, and have a combined record of 24-1. That lone loss, which came last month when Santa Fe lost on the road to Stillwater in a 5-set nail biter, catapulted Deer Creek to their first number one ranking in school history. Santa Fe undoubtedly wants a chance at that top spot, and Deer Creek wants to win the Harkness, but for either of those storylines to happen each team will have to cut through their own competitive pools. Those pools include two other Edmond schools. Edmond North, seeded second in Pool 1, held their first tournament match against Southmoore as Memorial played Mount St. Mary’s simultaneously. The defending state champion Lady Bulldogs came into the tournament as the lowest seed in their respective pool. The team, coached by Natalie Murray, wasn’t bothered by the high seed, however. Memorial upset the second-seeded Mount St. Mary’s team in straight sets. In the other pool, and on the other side of the court, Edmond North handled the lowest-seeded Southmoore in three sets, too. No Edmond school dropped a single set in their first pairing during the tournament. All schools are playing two more games, as the tournament featured round-robin, pool-play. Those games, which happened after deadline for The Edmond Sun on Friday, determined which brackets each team would play from during today’s single-elimination games. The top two of each pool will play in the Gold Division starting at 2:15 p.m., with the bottom two of each pool playing in the Silver Division Bracket.

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Edmond North High School Athletics

EDMOND TEAMS SWEEP FIRST MATCHES OF HARKNESS TOURNEY

AARON ALBERTSON

Edmond Sun | 9/8/2017

PHOTO CREDIT: Edmond North Athletics